FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019: Netherlands vs Sweden – tactical analysis

The Netherlands had to face a very tough Sweden in the semi-finals of the 2019 FIFA Womens World Cup but they proved brave enough to overcome the difficult challenge.

Sarina Wiegmans side brushed Italy aside with the scoreline of 2-0 to advance to the semi-finals, while Peter Gerhardsson took the two-time world champions Germany by surprise and shrugged them off in a thrilling 1-2 victory in Lorient.

Despite having to play until overtime, the Netherlands eventually managed to defeat relentless Sweden. Central midfielder Jackie Groenen scored the only goal for the Dutch side in the extra time.

In this tactical analysis, we will delve into how the Netherlands overcame Sweden to secure a place in the final.

Lineups

Netherlands (4-3-3)

Starting XI: van Veenendaal  van Lunteren, van der Gragt, Bloodworth, van Dongen  Spitse, Groenen, van de Donk  Beerensteyn, Miedema, Martens

Bench: van Es, Dekker, van de Sanden, Pelova, R. Jansen, Kaagman, E. Jansen, Kop, Kerkdijk, Roord, van der Most, Geurts

Coach: Sarina Wiegman

Sweden (4-2-3-1)

Starting XI: Lindahl  Glas, Fischer, Sembrant, Ericsson  Rubensson, Seger  Jakobsson, Asllani, Hurtig  Blackstenius

Bench: Andersson, Janogy, Falk, Ilestedt, Roddar, Zigiotti, Anvegard, Larsson, Musovic, Schough

Coach: Peter Gerhardsson

Netherlands setup  tactical analysis

Wiegman made only one change to her side in this match with Lineth Beerensteyn coming in to replace Shanice van de Sanden. The rest was just the same as the last game. Wiegman rarely rotated her squad and it was apparent by the fact that she has only used a total of 14 players so far in her squad in the 2019 FIFA Womens World Cup.

Wiegman set up her team to play in their usual 4-3-3 system with the view of shifting into 2-3-5 in attack. In the second half, Wiegman seemed to change the formation of her team, shifting into a 4-2-3-1 shape with Jackie Groenen playing alongside Sherida Spitse as the double pivot. Danielle van de Donk played in the attacking midfield role behind striker Vivianne Miedema. Jill Roord replaced Lieke Martens in the second half and briefly played in the left-wing before swapping positions with van de Donk later in the second half.

Swedens setup

There was also only one change in the Sweden team with Lina Hurtig replacing Fridolina Rolfo in the starting line-up.

Gerhardsson, as usual, deployed his team in a 4-2-3-1 system. This was a bit different than their last setup against Germany in which they used a 4-4-2 system with Kosovare Asllani playing alongside Stina Blackstenius in the striker role.

In this game, they seemed to form a 4-4-2 shape in defence and looked more like a 2-4-4 in attack.

There seemed to be no change in their system throughout the game.

Build-up play made difficult

Sweden played smart in this game. They paid close attention to the Netherlands best passers, Bloodworth and Spitse. This made the Netherlands build-up play much, much more difficult than usual.

Using this picture alone, we can see a lot of tactical instructions being applied in play. I will explain more about that in this analysis.

The picture above, in particular, shows Netherlands centre-back Stefanie van der Gragt opting for a long diagonal pass towards Martens on the left side of the wing. Swedens attacking midfielder, Asllani also didnt seem to close her down, but rather trying to mark the passing lane towards Spitse. If van der Gragt passed the ball to Bloodworth, Blackstenius would immediately close her down and press her. That way, Bloodworth would have no time at all to deliver a perfect progressive pass.

This strategy came into play all the way until the end of the game and I can safely say that this affected the Netherlands build-up massively.